These Apex Predators Face Extinction in the Mediterranean, Researchers Report

Great white sharks in the Mediterranean basin are in danger of disappearing, with poaching being a significant driver to their worrying decrease.

This assessment is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who collaborated with an marine preservation group. They report that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are found on sale in ports across the North African coast.

These sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which prohibits to catch them or to sell them.

However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators uncovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in 2025 alone.

Videos shared online showing sharks under protection being unloaded in North African ports has been authenticated.

One piece of footage showed a large great white being pulled from a boat from a vessel in Algeria. A separate video, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The principal scientist, explained that many shark species – particularly great whites – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other body of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been growing... and it's possible that they will go extinct in the near future."

The Mediterranean great whites is now listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In their most recent effort to find and study the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area identified as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

One key aim of their project was to attach a satellite tag onto a shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used over three tons of chum – including baitfish and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

Even after a fortnight of effort – baiting the ocean, collecting water samples to test for environmental DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any specimens.

They captured only a fleeting sighting of one blue shark species on their underwater cameras.

"It's discouraging," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how degraded this habitat is."

During their search for surviving sharks, they also received reports that a young great white shark had been taken in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that specimen was caught by accident in fishing gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, estimates that in excess of 40 great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Illegal Shark Trade

The researchers, along with regional contacts, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Documentation shows that protected sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are complex. Currently, two dozen endangered species have treaty-based safeguards – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, and hammerheads.

An regional treaty states that those species cannot be "retained on board, transhipped, landed, transferred, stored, sold or displayed or offered for sale".

The agreement states "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle incidental capture and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A conservationist noted that his own investigation found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining in the fact that white sharks were turning up for sale.

"It shows that there is life remaining," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a chance of recovery."

Possible Solutions

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to provide for their families, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you support them and train them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch protected species."

An advocate added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

"But," he added, "we've got to act very quickly."